She found something important. She just drew the wrong conclusions.
A liberal historian named Heather Cox Richardson wrote something this week about respect for authority and what happens when citizens don’t show it. Now, I don’t usually read liberal professors. But even a broken clock is right twice a day, and she stumbled onto something real.
She’s upset about what happened in Minneapolis. The president said the woman who was shot was “very, very disrespectful to law enforcement.” Richardson thinks that’s a problem. She quotes a Democratic congressman saying police don’t have the right to shoot people for being disrespectful.
And you know what? He’s right. In a perfect world, nobody gets shot for mouthing off. We all agree on that.
But Here’s What She Misses
There’s a difference between what should happen in a perfect world and what happens when you make a choice. When an officer gives you a lawful command, you comply. You sort it out later. You don’t drive away. That’s not how civilized society works.
Richardson brings up January 6. She quotes this congressman saying the protesters that day “violently attacked police officers and called them everything from traitors to pigs to racial epithets.” She thinks this proves some kind of hypocrisy because those people got pardoned.
But those were political prisoners. That was different. That was about the government overreaching against patriots who had legitimate questions about the election. The Minneapolis situation is about someone who made a choice not to comply with federal agents doing their jobs.
The Real Police State
Richardson goes on about how ICE agents are conducting door-to-door searches without warrants and using illegal chokeholds. She quotes the Illinois attorney general calling them “occupiers rather than officers of the law.” She mentions that six federal prosecutors resigned because they were told to investigate the victim instead of the agent.
She even notes that Joe Rogan—who endorsed Trump—compared ICE to the Gestapo. And that 46% of Americans now support abolishing ICE entirely.
These are concerning details. I’ll admit that. Nobody wants a police state. Nobody wants agents breaking into homes without warrants. That’s exactly what we were worried the Democrats would do.
But here’s the thing Richardson doesn’t understand: respect for authority is the foundation of order. Without it, you get chaos. You get mobs. You get people thinking they can just drive away from federal agents because they don’t feel like complying.
The Question She Won’t Ask
Richardson mentions that Fox News is warning about “organized gangs of wine moms” and “self-important White women” interfering with federal agents. She seems to think that’s funny. But what happens when everyone decides they get to choose which laws to follow? What happens when showing respect for authority becomes optional?
I’ll tell you what happens. Society falls apart. That’s what.
So yes, I read the liberal historian. She raised some valid concerns about government overreach. But she missed the fundamental point: when an officer tells you to stop, you stop. You don’t get to decide in the moment that you’re above the law.
That’s called respect for authority. And I’m full of it.
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